The normal way to hunt a monster involved destroying their core, where their mana was stored. For White Bears, that core was in their neck, so Parfeil had aimed for that first. However, her enemy had turned out to be a normal bear, so it would have been best to aim for its head where there was little fat. It was no surprise that attacking its neck had had little effect.
A knight brigade had encountered that bear before and they had only managed to drive it back to the forest. House Noisette was apparently incredibly grateful to Van now that he had killed the creature.
“Still, what a disaster. We got stranded in a blizzard and ran into one of the Burrowless,” I lamented.
“Indeed. Parfeil also talked about that when she woke up. Lady Fenetra even said that it would clear up today, right?”
“She did. But the weather is pretty fickle in places where the snow is deep.” It had been my own decision to push through with the expedition, not because I had believed Fenetra. Still, having heard that Van had gone out to inspect the volcano had been a big factor in deciding to go.
“I’m glad that Van returned safely from their expedition,” I said.
“About that... The Lord Dragon Duke had no plans for an expedition and stayed at the mansion the entire time.”
“What?!”
Madeleine had apparently heard this from Parfeil and confirmed it with Van. Apparently, the expedition had been canceled due to terrible weather.
“The expedition had already been canceled by the time you two went out,” Madeleine added.
“That would mean that Fenetra lied to us when she said that they would be going out.”
“Most likely.”
“Fenetra was also dressed up when we ran into her, so I was quite convinced that she was going to head out,” I recalled.
“Maybe the delay was confirmed after she had already gotten dressed?” Madeleine suggested.
“Maybe.”
“Or, maybe, um... Maybe she woke up early and got dressed, but then she heard that the trip was canceled, so she lied to you so she could feel better about herself.”
To be fair, if I had woken up early, put on some makeup, and styled my hair only to find out that my plans for the day had been canceled, I would also be upset. That wouldn’t excuse her taking that irritation out on other people, though.
“I’m so sorry for chatting with you so much right after you woke up,” Madeleine said.
“It’s fine. I wasn’t hurt anyway.”
So much had happened, and in such quick succession too, that my brain had been unable to keep up. I had ended up passing out. I’d been so excited about the trip to Diamant that I had barely been able to get any sleep, so I had ended up sleeping like a log.
“Are you hungry?” Madeleine asked.
“Hmm... I don’t feel hungry,” I replied.
“Then I’ll get you something easy to digest, like soup. I’ll ask the servants to prepare you some.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“No problem!”
Once Madeleine left, my white squirrels started walking around the room to check if everything was okay this time. When I told them that there was no problem, they each raised a paw and squeaked in unison.
I felt like I’d recovered enough to walk around, but both Van and Madeleine had told me to rest for the remainder of the day. I’d caused both of them trouble, so staying put would be a way to make it up to them.
I started brushing the white squirrels to entertain myself. I combed their backs, then flipped them over to brush out their undersides. The fur on their heads was pretty short, so it was sufficient to stroke it with my fingers. The squirrels I had finished brushing out began to comb my hair with their claws too, perhaps as thanks for brushing them. I was surprised that my hair looked so refreshed and shiny afterward. I wondered if they knew some kind of advanced brushing techniques. Come to think of it, their fur was always quite shiny...
After finishing up with the last squirrel, I was left with free time once more. I’d already been sleeping since yesterday afternoon, so there was no way I could go back to bed.
I should’ve brought a book with me, I thought.
Suddenly, I heard some knocking coming from the glass door of the balcony. I thought it might have been a bird pecking at the glass, but I was shocked at what I saw there.
A tiny silver dragon was on the other side of the balcony door.
I could only think of one dragon with such a beautiful silver color—Van. I opened the door along with my squirrels, and the little dragon jumped straight into my arms.
“Mille-Feuille!” the little dragon cried.
“Van, why do you look like that?!”
“I thought I would check up on you and see if you were being good, so I shrunk myself to keep watch over you in secret.”
“In secret? I could hear you knocking on the door with your claws.”
“I might have knocked against something when I tried to peek in.”
Van’s adult dragon form was massive and rugged, but as a small dragon, his body was soft and mushy. His scales felt more like high-quality silk and were soft to the touch.
I’d once heard that dragonkin mothers raising children were quite fierce and vicious to protect them. Seeing Van as a tiny baby dragon did stoke my motherly instincts. I felt like I wanted to keep him safe.
I lifted up the tiny Van and carried him over to the couch. It felt mysteriously comforting when I placed him on my lap.
“Ho ho. I had thought that placing you on my lap felt sublime, but it’s not half bad being in your lap like this,” Van said.
“This is only for today.”
“I know.”
I could keep petting him like this forever... Oops, I can’t keep playing around with him this way!
“Van, is it all right for you to be here?”
“It’s not a problem. I don’t have any urgent work to do.”
“Weren’t you going to go on an expedition?”
“It’s been canceled,” Van said.
“Not just delayed?” I asked.
“That’s right. They’ve been checking for other Burrowless bears.”
“I see...”
Van, bored as he was, had tried to go to my room, but one of the House Noisette butlers had told him to not wander around the place.
“They told me to stay put in my room as there were merchants coming in and out of the house. Security around the mansion isn’t perfect.”
How could a mere butler restrict the activities of their own guest? And the Dragon Duke, even? I was speechless at how brazen they were.
“This is the second time I’ve headed to your room, so I thought I’d transform into a smaller form so as not to attract attention.”
“I’m surprised that Roche let you do all this,” I said.
“Roche is right over there.”
Van pointed at the balcony. There, a small red dragon was clutching itself in embarrassment.